OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14252290
BURN,LEAK,FLAMMABLE LIQUID,WORK RULES,FIRE,EXPLOSION,CHEMICAL,INATTENTION
Event description
FLAMMABLE LIQUID IGNITED BY OXY-ACETYLENE TORCH
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS USING AN OXY-ACETYLENE TORCH TO CUT A SECTION OF PATTERNED STEEL PLATE. EMPLOYEE #2 WAS HIS ASSISTANT. THE WORK WAS BEING PERFORMED IN THE VICIN ITY OF COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS, INCLUDING A DRUM OF CHEMICALS LATER IDENTIFIED AS A MIXTURE OF METHANOL AND XYLENOL. IT IS SPECULATED THAT THE DRUM MAY HAVE DEVEL OPED PINHOLE LEAKS IN THE BOTTOM, ALLOWING FLAMMABLE LIQUID TO ACCUMULATE ON THE FLOOR. A SPARK FROM THE CUTTING OPERATION APPARENTLY CONTACTED THE FLAMMABLE LI QUID, CAUSING AN EXPLOSION AND FIRE. BOTH EMPLOYEES WERE HOSPITALIZED WITH BURNS , AND LATER DIED IN THE HOSPITAL.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 50 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 783
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 10
- Hazardous substance
- 8880
- Task assigned
- 2
-
#2 Fatality Age 68 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 864
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 10
- Hazardous substance
- 8880
- Task assigned
- 2
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.